Another large statue features in Daniel 3. But this time the statue has been made by Nebuchadnezzar to pander to his own pride and vanity.
Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, refuse to worship it. And the outcome is both terrifying and glorious!
“King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.”
Daniel 3:1 RSV
Daniel 2 brings us a description, not only of Nebuchadnezzar’s spectacular dream, but of Daniel’s God-inspired interpretation of it.
“In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed such dreams that his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him.”
Daniel 2:1 NRSV
In Chapter 21, we enter a New Heaven and a New Earth which is too wonderful and too glorious to even describe (In our present limited state).
In Chapter 22, all is complete, all is fulfilled, Christ is reigning. However, there is a serious warning in verse 18: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. If anyone takes away from this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of Life, and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”
Revelation 21:1 NRSV
In Chapter 20, we see Christ and his resurrected followers reigning over a restored world, which is like the Garden of Eden, for 1,000 years – with the added advantage that the Devil has been put in prison.
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,”
Revelation 20:1-2 NRSV